


the moment i first laid eyes on you

by roseswithwine



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: 1988, Canon Compliant, F/M, Fluff, idk how to tag, its rainy, mike and el take a walk through the woods, mileven is in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-09
Updated: 2021-02-09
Packaged: 2021-03-16 02:29:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29324736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roseswithwine/pseuds/roseswithwine
Summary: Mike and El’s midnight walk turns stormy, and Mike is flashed back to the moment he met the most important person in his life.
Relationships: Eleven | Jane Hopper & Mike Wheeler, Eleven | Jane Hopper/Mike Wheeler
Comments: 8
Kudos: 22





	the moment i first laid eyes on you

**Author's Note:**

> hello!
> 
> i thought of this idea a while ago and finally decided to write it down. I think i liked it more at the beginning of writing this, but i figured id put it out anyway because why not.
> 
> i hope you enjoy this little one shot... maybe if you like it you can get past my shitty writing skills.
> 
> anyways... i hope you enjoy! kudos and comments are much appreciated, i love knowing what you guys like and what i can do to be better:)

April, 1988

Mike showing up at her house randomly was not uncommon. Either he got bored and no one was home or his parents were arguing and he needed an escape, her cabin in the woods was a place he often found his muscle memory taking him.

Usually he'd knock on the door, but sometimes when he didn't want to talk to her father or just wanted them to be able to relax without Hopper breathing down their necks to keep the door cracked, he’d show up at her window. 

Today was one of those days.

Even though Hopper wasn't home, which he would be able to tell because of the absence of the police cruiser parked out front, he still came to the window.

El was laying on her bed perched on her elbows reading a magazine, legs crossed and swaying above her knees. Her blinds were open so she could let the late-afternoon sunlight shine through, fortunately for Mike he could admire her for a minute, while she was still unaware of his presence and just being herself. 

As Mike was about to stop staring at her through her bedroom window like a creep and knock, she whipped herself up and extended her arm to place the magazine on her nightstand, jumping when she saw his figure standing in the window. Just as she was preparing to defend herself, she relaxed and placed a hand over her heart, and got up to open the window.

“Mike.” she sighed, breath still slightly frantic from being startled. 

“Hi.” Mike said as he clambered through the window, smiling as he spoke. “Sorry if i scared you.”

“How long were you standing there staring at me for?” El asked teasingly, a smirk present on her face.

“Not long. I just got here.”

“Why are you here?” She asked.

“What, you don't want me here?” He joked, and she gave him a _'you know that is not what i meant'_ face. “I was bored”

“Well good, I’m bored too. I was just going to call you.”

“I beat you to it. It's like we are psychically connected.” Mike said in a wooish tone, waving his arms for dramatic effect. El smiled and went to smack his arms down, but he grabbed them and pulled her into him as she squealed. 

He wrapped his arms around her waist and spun her around while El giggled and told him to put her down. So, he picked her up more and threw her on her bed, pinning her arms down so she’d stop scrambling.

The sunlight made her skin look so soft and made her eyes glow. She had a fake-annoyed smirk on her face and pretended like she was trying to get out from under him, even though they both knew she could do that easily if she wanted, without moving a muscle. 

“Hi.”

“Hi.”

“You look pretty.”

“I do?”

“You always do.”

Her cheeks blush and her smile widens, and Mike places kisses all over her cheeks and face. Then moves down towards the spot on her neck he _knows_ is super ticklish. When he gets there, she starts to laugh and flail her arms and legs and squirm underneath him until he gets off.

“Stop tickling me.” She says with a stern look, but he knows she loves it. 

“Why would i do that? I get to hear you laugh.” 

Her look softens and her cheeks grow pinker but she tries to stay serious. That fails when his smile widens and his eyes grow bigger, as to say _'you and I both know I won this one.'_

El sighs, but then uses Mike's distracted victorious state to break free from his grip. She stands and reaches her arm towards him. 

“Come, let's eat something. I’m hungry.”

“What do you have to eat?” Mike asks.

“Leftovers. Joyce made pork chops when we went for dinner yesterday. She said, ‘I made extra for you to take home, that way you'll have some real food in you.’”

Mike laughed. Hopper wasn't the best cook, and though El was learning, most nights it was something simple like pasta, or microwave dinners or take-out or leftovers. “Pork chops sound good.”

* * *

After warming up the food, Mike and El took a seat on the sofa in front of the TV. That may be them breaking one of the cabin “rules”, but no one else was around to enforce them, so they didn’t care.

They ended up on a channel playing old movies, and that is what they watched. Commenting on the old way people talked or El making jokes about how the main character looked like Mike, which he didn't see _at all._ It all felt so… domestic. So happy, and all El could think about was how she wanted to spend every night like this. Curled up on the couch, watching whatever they could find on TV, calm and content. _I want to spend the rest of my life with him._

El got up and cleaned the dishes, Mike insisted he helped but El shoved him away. After putting the clean plates away El opened the freezer to look for something. _Gotcha._

Mike was surprised when he looked up and found El setting down a plate of eggos and a carton of ice cream on the coffee table.

“Dessert.” She stated.

Mike smiled at her and wrapped his arm around her shoulder when she sat down. She grabbed her treats and then snuggled into his side.

They shared bites of waffle and ice cream, El mostly feeding him because she claimed she “knew how to do it right”. Mike wiped ice cream on her nose and she dropped her jaw like she was offended, yet failed to conceal the corners of her mouth that were turning up in a smile. She kissed some ice cream off his lips, had a couple big spoonfuls before the cartoon was mostly empty and she had to put it away before it was all gone.

They watched the movie on the couch in the soft lamp light for about 15 minutes until they both dozed off to sleep, cuddled together and the quiet dialogue from the TV playing in the background.

* * *

When Mike opened his eyes, his watch read 12:33 A.M. _What time did we fall asleep?_ He figured it had been about three hours considering it was around 8:45 when him and El ate their dessert.

“El?” he whispered.

El began to stir, squishing her face into his chest before slowly sitting up and rubbing her eyes.

“We fell asleep?” she asked.

“Guess so.”

“What time is it?”

“12:30.” 

El stretched her arms over her head. “Do your parents know you’re here? It's late.”

“I told them I was going to Dustins, hopefully they'll think I just slept over. Where is your dad?”

“Night shift.” she replied. Then she stood up, pulling him with her and walked towards her room. “I still have a pair of your sweatpants from when you left them. You can sleep in those”

Mike nods. They walk into her bedroom and change into clothes to sleep in, those being some sweatpants and a t-shirt.

El shut off the lights in the house before crawling into bed beside Mike. She cuddled into him before shutting her eyes and trying to fall back asleep.

Only sleep didn't come, and after about 15 minutes of laying there flipping herself trying to get comfortable, Mike spoke up.

“What's wrong?”

“Can't fall asleep.” she said. They laid in silence for a minute.

“Wanna go for a walk?”

* * *

“It's nice out here for April.” Mike comments as they walk further into darkness.

After not being able to fall back asleep, they both threw on some warmer clothes and jackets and headed out into the woods that surrounded the cabin.

Walking hand in hand, Mike and El followed a little path that they made themselves after many walks throughout the years. It was peaceful, and it was theirs. The only sounds were the leaves crushing under their feet and the breeze whirring between the trees.

“I like nights like these.” El says, breaking the silence.

“Yeah?” Mike responds

“Yeah.”

“I do too.” He says, and he can see El smile through the moonlight.

“I like when no one else is here. I like when it's just me and you.” 

“You don't like hanging out with the others?” 

“No, I do. I just meant that I like when it's just us better. They are always bugging us. Dustin always makes faces at me when we are holding hands. It's weird.” she remarks lightheartedly.

“Dustin is always weird.” Mike says, El giggles.

“Besides,” he continues, “Dustin can make faces as much as he wants. He's probably just jealous because he is single.” Mike says jokingly and El laughs beside him.

“I like when it's just us too. You wanna know why?” Mike asks.

“Why?”

“‘Cause i can do this.” Mike says before stepping in front of her and placing a kiss onto her lips. El blushes aa she kisses him back.

They pull away a few moments later and carry on walking. “They would all yell at us for doing that.” El jokes, even though it has happened before.

“They have! Remember when we were by the lake and all I did was kiss your cheek? Max threw a towel over us and told us to get a room. As if her and Lucas don't do that all the time. She was kissing him like 30 seconds after!” Mike scrambled, making El laugh.

“Sounds like them.” she said.

“Because it is them.”

After a couple minutes of silence, El speaks again. “I love our friends.” she says.

“I love them too.” Mike agrees.

“Not as much as I love you though.” He smiles brightly at her as he says it. El tries not to smile too hard.

The best thing about them was how they enhanced one another. Mike and El were like a package deal, both making the other stronger and happier. And as they walked through the woods, on their favourite homemade trail, in the middle of the night, they both thought how they wished it could be like that forever. Happy and safe and strong. Together.

* * *

As time passed, and they had been outside for about 45 minutes, they never noticed how the wind started to pick up and the air began feeling charged.

They had already started walking back, but were at least half an hour out when the rain started to drizzle. 

“Was it supposed to rain tonight?” Mike asked.

“I didn't check. Didn't think so.” El replied, voice slightly muffled from her ducked head.

It started to rain a little harder, and they picked up their pace. The flashlights they had brought were tucked away in an attempt to not get them too wet. They kept their hands intertwined and their heads down.

Something about this felt weird to Mike. A good weird. Like they had lived this before.

But soon enough, it was pouring. Both of them were running down the path trying to get towards the cabin quicker. The trees were not doing a lot to help shield them from the rain.

As they got tired and out of breath from running, they already accepted that they were soaked and decided to just speed walk the rest of the way. It wasn't what they planned, but it was funny to see each other dripping wet from the rain.

“Mike! Hold on a second!” Mike heard from behind him. El had let go at some point and his fingers were so cold he didn't realize.

But as she stood up from tying her shoelace, her face dripping wet and the beam from the flashlight lighting her up, Mike felt a sense of déjà vu.

And then he blinked, and he wasn't there anymore. Staring back at him was not his girlfriend, 17 years old and water dripping from her shoulder length hair. It was a mysterious girl, 12 years old, hair shaved and looking terrified.

* * *

_All Mike could seem to do was stare. **This isn't Will,** he thought. Though his shock was enough to hold him still, his eyes were glued to her face. He didn't know what to do, and he couldn't look away. He just stood there._

_After probably a minute of all of them, standing frozen in the rain, Mike managed to open his mouth._

_“Are you okay?” he spoke first. Lucas and Dustin stood silent beside him from shock. Mike just happened to have recovered fastest._

_The girl didn't answer, and only stared back. She stood in a large t-shirt that was the size of a dress on her small body. She looked between the three boys._

_He stared at her for a moment. Something about this felt weird, but significant. Like he was going to remember this for the rest of his life. **This is weird.**_

_Mike turned his head to look at both his friends. They stared back at him, mouths agape and confusion on their faces._

_The beam of their flashlights lit her up as they stood in the dark._

_“Are you safe?” No answer again._

_As much as Mike was freaked out, he was curious. Where had she come from? Why was she in the woods alone, in the dark and in the middle of a storm? Did she see Will? Why was she staring at him like that?_

_“Mike, what the hell are we supposed to do?” Lucas asks._

_“We can’t leave her here! She’ll freeze!” Mike responds._

_Dustin, still silent, just nods at them. Lucas sighs._

_Mike takes a breath, and slowly reaches his hand out to her, gesturing for her to follow. She appeared disoriented and confused, but after a few seconds, she seemed to understand and took a step in their direction._

_Mike scrambled to take his jacket off so he could give it to her. She flinched back as he tried to place it over her shoulders, but relaxed a moment later and let him._

_This only fascinated him more. He wanted to know who this strange girl was. He wanted to talk to her. And he didn't know how much this day would affect the rest of his life. Because he didn't know that in about seven days, he’d kiss her in the school cafeteria. And not even an hour later, she'd be gone. That exactly a year after, she’d show up on the Byers’ doorstep, after seemingly vanishing into thin air the November prior. That this day would be so impactful for the rest of his life, and always feel like somehow this was supposed to happen. Winning the argument about which way on the path they should go while secretly searching for Will would throw him into a situation that could never be explained to anyone outside of his group. But would also bring him the love of his life, and the most important person he lives for._

_But for now, the boys, and the frightened girl they had found, walk back in the direction of the road, Mike trailing slightly behind to make sure the girl is still with them. He felt a need to keep her safe. He didn't know what it was, but he knew he had to protect her, make sure she was okay._

_The rain continued to pour. They continued to walk back to the bikes._

“Mike!”

He blinked back to reality. El was calling his name.

“Wha- yeah?”

“You spaced out for like a minute.” El said.

“Oh.” was all he could muster.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

He didn't answer. Instead, he took a step forward and placed a kiss on her lips, holding her face tight. She put her arms around his waist, kissing him back.

“I’m more than okay. I am a little cold though.” he joked.

They continued their walk back to the cabin, the rain still pouring. They didn't care anymore.

“Y’know,” El starts.

“What?”

“Tonight was kind of like the day we met. In the woods.” 

Mike laughed. _Sometimes I think she can read my mind,_ he thought.

“Yeah.” he said. “Like the day we met.”

**Author's Note:**

> quick drop in at the end...
> 
> i’m only just realizing now (it’s feb 16 and i posted this on the 11th) that i put one of the most cliché tropes in here without even acknowledging i did it. so, enjoy a mileven rain kiss i wasn’t even aware i was writing. 
> 
> at least i didn’t go into detail about the fucking rain. 
> 
> anyways, hope you liked it! comment your thoughts, i love hearing them


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